Ammoland Notes Another Challenge to California Ban on Ammo Shipments
It seems that if you can’t get guns out of people’s hands for some the next best thing to do is control the ammo they use. Our friends at Ammoland.com are reporting that the National Rifle Association (NRA) has joined with the Calguns Foundation, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, the Folsom Shooting Club and two individual truckers to challenge California’s upcoming ban on shipments of handgun ammunition to the state. Have you heard about any of this in the mainstream media? Probably not.
But as Ammoland.com notes:
“Assembly Bill 962 was signed into law last year. Starting in February 2011, the law will criminalize the delivery and transfer of handgun ammunition not done in face-to-face transactions. The law provides only a few exceptions to this shipping ban, and requires shipping companies to bear the burden of determining whether the recipient of a package containing handgun ammunition is covered by one of the exceptions before delivering the package. This will make shipping ammunition to California much more difficult, complicated, and expensive.”
We’ll be watching to see how this pans out, and whether the MSM bothers to report on it.
Ammo Story Goes International Via WaPo
Apparently there has been so much hype about an increase in the sale of ammunition in the United States that the story continues to go international, and alas with the same liberal bias. This week The Canadian Free Press ran a story with this passage:
“In a year of job losses, foreclosures and bag lunches, Americans have spent record-breaking amounts of money on guns and ammunition. The most obvious sign of their demand: empty ammunition shelves. At points during the past year, bullets have been selling faster than factories could make them.”
First, we’d like ask our colleagues north of the border for a source on the point that bullets are actually being sold “faster than factories could make them.” Yes, ammo is selling, but so far even the American press hasn’t stated that dubious claim. Or has it?
A closer look at the story reveals that this wasn’t actually original copy – as in an original article from Canada, but is in fact just a passage quoted from The Washington Post. This story of course offers the usual suggestions that it is fear of Obama taking away guns that are driving the sales.
Additionally, what the Canadian abridged version fails to point out is at least in the WaPo version, which stresses that America is involved in two wars right now. Factor in the additional training, and maybe the ammo shortage isn’t just people hording. While WaPo offers this suggestion, via the argument from ammo makers, the rest of the mainstream media – including that in Canada now – just blames gun owners of course.
Firing Back: California Off the Mark in Ammo Limit
This week California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law that would limit the amount of ammunition sold. When – or rather if – this law goes into effect in 2011 (we expect lawsuits any second now), it would mean that handgun owners would be unable to buy more than 50 rounds per month, while gun shops would have to record identifying information about the buyer. While this is aimed at reducing crime, it is another step that won’t have the intended effect. Instead, it will make it harder for target shooter to go target shooting, while criminals will simply find gray markets or buy from illegal sources.
In the meantime, 2011 is a long time away. We expect just about every gun owner in the state to stock up. So that rush for ammo might just further heat up. Of course we’re also expecting praises from the mainstream media over the next 15 months. Let’s just not hold our breath thinking that gun related crime will disappear at the stroke of midnight.
Prohibition didn’t reduce drinking in the 1920s and it just created new black markets, while normally honest people broke the law casually. Why would anything think that the same wouldn’t happen with bullets as well. But maybe that is the intention; if people break the law they can’t legally own guns. And that sadly might be the ultimate gun control plan.
L.A. Times Says “Bull Market for Bullets”
File this one under “old new” but this weekend The Los Angeles Times ran a piece that say sales of ammunition have picked up since President Barrack Obama took office. This has been a story that has regularly circulated over the past seven months, and shows no sign of dying down.
Was it a slow news week? That doesn’t seem right. Teddy Kennedy passed away, hurricanes were heading to land in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and the violence in Afghanistan has picked up. So why is this story that ammo is continuing to sell news?
Of course part of the problem is that these stories circulate, people are reminded that bullets are in short supply and thus they buy more when they can find it. This in turn increases sales, and spurs more stories. So maybe the real story isn’t that people are buying bullets out of fear of President Obama banning guns, but rather that the media is essentially convincing people to buy more bullets!
